...make a lot of socks

    

basic heel flap socks in Idena Crazy stripes yarn,
basic heel flap socks in ArtYarns Supermerino (color #122),
Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' Dream Socks in ArtYarns Supermerino (color #117)

      

"Retro Rib Socks" (from Winter 2004 Interweave Knits) in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport,
PG-R Dream Socks in LL Shepherd Sport (color "argyle"),
pompom socks, adapted from "Wimbeldon Socks" in Vogue Knitting on the Go: Socks in Rowan Cashsoft 4ply
and anklets in Koigu (color #200) using my own anklet version of PG-R's Dream Socks



more of alison's ankle socks in Cascade Fixation

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My sock yarn from the Knitting Zone arrived and the colors are just as fabulous as I'd imagined. I simply could not resist the bright green, orange, and yellow lorna's laces. As much as I love them, I could never wear them, but I'm pretty sure that my mom would love some bright, bright, bright stripey socks for the spring. (My sock pal dodged a bullet there, huh?!) I'm thinking about this stripey pattern that I keep seeing on some of the Six Socks gals' pages like Dawn's and Alison's. (Note to beginning sock knitters: check out the other sock tutorials and free sock patterns at the Hipknitism site. They look good!)

After perusing the sockapaloozer sites, there are a few more socks I'm dreaming about:

Retro Ribs in Lorna's Laces China Blue, just like Anja is making.

Marks & Kattens Clown socks in the orange/pink colorway that Cara is using (Brenda made some socks last yearn in this yarn. It's so pretty.).

Peppermint socks, like Jenika's.

Some cable socks, like Maeve's, or Nicole's (I've already ordered the book the pattern is from!). Or maybe the cable rib socks from the new IK (look, Liz has already started these!).

Wait a minute. What have we here? Erika's cable sock is fabulous, but do you see that Poetry in Stitches cardigan?! I've just stopped dreaming of socks.

After working at my LYS for a few hours this weekend, I came home with a little bag of goodies.

Rowan Denim for Leigh's tasha bag. After seeing Sandy knit a couple of these, I've decided I gotta have one! I have a feeling that denim is going to be my next big crush. One of the Knitsmiths is making some denim baby overalls, which are so sweet! And I've got some denim jackets planned for the boys for spring.

Some Crazy sock yarn, which makes such neat little stripes. I started the crazy socks with my sock class last night. They're sort of my reward for all the socks I've made for others recently.

Simply Noro, cause Klaralund is next on the chopping block and I'm gonna transform her into something completely different! Don't worry, I haven't given up on Klaralund - I plan on making another one in a different yarn that will be softer directly against my skin.

and the stripes even match!

My Idena Crazy socks are done. I love them. And can I just say that I really like the way DK weight socks knit up?! I like how fast they go and I really like the thickness of the sock. There need to be more socks on US4's in my life. So I took a little virtual stroll over to the Knitting Zone and ordered the Lorna's Laces in china blue that I've been lusting after for so long. In sport weight, bay-bee!

Knit a Dozen Socks by Edie Eckman

And more proof of just how crazy I am about socks now, I rushed out and bought this sock book recommended to me by Nicole, who is making the cutest little cable socks for her sock pal based on this pattern in the book. I loved that pattern and immediately went searching for the book. The day it arrived, I cast on for their basic sock with the fabulous supermerino yarn I purchased for my mom's friend. I simply can't say enough good things about this yarn. The colors, the hand, the gauge (on US6's!): all wonderful.

color #122 - "shades of seafoam"

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Ain't it the truth! Read The Joy of Socks from The Boston Globe (2/24/05).

Supermerino socks are all done and I think they're pretty super.

So super in fact that I went out to Circles and bought more supermerino for some socks for me. And you're not going to believe the colorway I couldn't resist.

I know what you're thinking: who the hell am I and what have I done with Alison?!

What an incredible knitting weekend! First the yarn trip out to Western Mass all day Saturday, then a few hours of working at the yarn store on Sunday, and last but not least, our Knitsmiths' yarn swap yesterday afternoon. Whew!

colorful stitchers at Colorful Stitches

Saturday, I met up with Kerstin, Claudia (note new blog address!) and a few knit-bloggers in from out-of-town (Annie, Leigh, Melissa, Mary, and Mary Beth) and we hit the road in search of yarn. Every single one of us had a sock-in-progress to knit while in the car. And because I'm now crazy sock lady, I took a picture of each of them: Claudia's, Kerstin's and Annie's, Leigh's, Melissa's and Mary's (note gorgeous peace fleece sweaters!), and Mary Beth's. Fabulous, aren't they? Oh yeah, the socks too! I worked on my supermerino zebra socks (more on them later!)

First stop was Colorful Stitches, which ROCKED! Beautiful store in a lovely house, with gorgeous yarn draped everywhere and Rowan Magpie on sale and many lovely blue yarns which somehow made their way into my basket. Yay! Then it was on to the main event, Webs.

Webs' super wall of supermerino

The front of the store has been remodeled and is now HUGE! They've got everything and in every color. Just look at all that ArtYarns Supermerino! I talked several of my fellow yarn girls into taking some of this yarn that I'm using for my zebra socks home (more on those socks later!). The thing that makes Webs really cool is the warehouse in the back, where you can rummage through bags and boxes and giant cones of yarn. We opened one unassuming box to find over a dozen rather tribble-looking cones of Berroco's Mohair Classic (remember tribbles?). And look, up in the sky, it's scores of blue yarn cones. Ooh, I like this place!

No, I didn't get that blue coned yarn, but I did get one skein of this incredibly soft malabrigo merino yarn and the last of the KFI Cashmereno (the finer, even-softer precursor to Debbie Bliss' Cashmerino), enough for a sweater for me.

And if that weren't enough, Sunday was our Knitsmiths' swap! I brought in some lovely yarns that hadn't inspired me recently, and came home with enough Debbie Bliss cotton angora and Rowan Polar to roll around naked in (uh, no picture of that moment, you'll have to trust me!) and some wicked cool retro yarn that Amber brought in in an old bread bag. Too fun!

Oh and with all that knitting time, I finished my supermerino zebra socks*.

Now I must sleep.

* - Since I seem to be the new supermerino yarn-pusher, I will tempt you by telling you that this pair only took two skeins to make on US6's and it's soooo soft!

The beginnings of Retro Rib socks in Lorna's Laces China Blue for me. This time I'm doing the whole pattern, since I have a nice solid color yarn to really show it off. I've allowed myself a little handicap though: I'm using Lorna's Shephard Sport on US4's so the socks won't take an eternity to knit. It's making the knitting easier, but I'll have some number crunching to do when I get to the heel. Until then, I'm enjoying the pattern immensely.

There was no time for knitting yesterday. Guess where we went!

Yes, despite the snow (another snowstorm? what's this spring coming to?!), we drove down to Ikea for some fun and buns. B even got to visit Smaland. You know what that means - one boy potty trained, one to go. Another one? What's this motherhood thing coming to?

Just past the heel on the first retro rib sock. It would appear that finishing the hourglass sweater, starting the white bread sweater, taking crazy day trips to IKEA and working at the yarn store all weekend have cut into my sock knitting time.

My first sport-weight retro rib sock is done. Woo hoo!

Anyhoo, here are the numbers I'm using just in case there's anyone else out there who, like me, just is not up to knitting these socks on teeny-tiny needles! With Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport on US4's, I cast on 56 st., did 4 repeats of the cuff ribbing and 14 repeats of the leg ribbing pattern. (Oh how I love that ribbing pattern!) I divided for the heel, working 28 st. for heel, and keeping the remaining 28 st. on needles for the instep. To divide the stitches without disturbing the pattern, I completed the round and worked 4 stitches from the new round - the last 28 stitches became the instep stitches and the next 28 the heel. My heel shaping was pretty standard: on the first row, slipping 1, purling 28, then P2tog, P1; the next row is always K5, K2tog, K1; and then continue working K2tog and P2tog rows as usual until all heel stitches are incorporated into the heel. I picked up 15 st. on the sides of the heel flap and in the gusset decreased back to original number of stitches on each needle in the usual manner. For the toe, I followed the instructions from the original pattern, decreasing every other row to 32 stitches then every row to 16 stitches.

(Update: I think it's going to take me about one and a quarter hanks of the Shepherd Sport to make these socks.)

If you ever want to fiddle with sock numbers, check out Teri's great page outlining a basic sock formula.

Retro rib socks all done. Shepherd Sport, China Blue, Retro Ribs: love it, love it, love it!

I love 'em so much, I had to have a BIG picture

And you wanna see my souvenir yarn from Columbus? Don't want to shock you, but it's sock yarn. More Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport to be exact.

I liked the colors and was intrigued by the name, "argyle". I'm really curious to see how this knits up.

My new Lorna's Laces "argyle" yarn is soooo pooling.

I'm blue...

...no I'm gray with a crazy red stripe!

Question, where should I place the heel? What should be the front and what should be the back??

Still pooling.

As Cara says, "Shazam!"

I decided to keep the fun, red zigzag on the front of the sock. It's hard work though! I am having to adjust my tension every couple of rows to keep the pooling in the middle and prevent it from doing the swirly pooling thing (like in Dava's sock). Fingers crossed that I can get sock #2 to do something even vaguely similar.

It seemed to me that a great way to avoid interrupting the pooling by doing a heel flap and a gusset with a different number of stitches, was simply to do short row heels and toes (a la Priscilla Gibson-Roberts) in a solid color. I found the perfect red in Gems Merino Sport at my LYS. So I kept the funky pooling red in front and then broke up the pretty blue in the back with the heel. Neat, huh?

  
Pull out the camera, and the little hands will come.

And for those of you fully convinced that I've been abducted and brain-washed by pooling variegated sock yarn producing aliens, I am having a blast making these socks, but they're not going to be for me.

Too freaking cool!

What I really love, besides those awesome colors, is how the red "shazaam" stripe pooled a little more on one side of the heel than on the other. That way the red could be worn to the inside of the leg, making the socks appear more blue, or to the outside, showing off how wild they are.

Um, I may just have to keep these socks afterall.

"Argyle" sock number two isn't pooling quite as regularly as sock number one. Can you see how it really wants to keep shifting in one direction?

I was able to keep the pooling centered on the front of the first sock by adjusting gauge alone. But that hasn't been enough for this sock. In order to keep it from swirling, I've had to remove color repeats to keep it centered. For example, the gray was coming too early AGAIN, thus shifting the whole "shazaam" to the right, so I pulled out the whole color repeat to an inch before the gray began again and then started knitting with the yarn.

Now I've got an inch more of blue to work with before the gray comes. Result: the "shazaam" has been forced back towards the center. I'll have to go back later and cut these yarns on the inside and weave them in. Still, it's a fairly easy fix and is working pretty well.

To all you mothers out there who have been forced to watch Dora's Pirate Adventure, I apologize. I simply cannot turn the heel of a sock anymore without having this ridiculous song in my head!

I'm still shazaam'ing my way down the foot as best I can. It's been a really fun challenge trying to keep this pooling going the way it has so far. But my favorite thing by far about the socks has to be the Gems Opal yarn I'm using for the heels and toes. This yarn is such a pleasure to work with. It has a wonderful hand and knits up smoothly and evenly. I can't wait to get some more and make a whole sweater with it like Grumperina did (I hope you clicked over to her site, because her sweater is fabulous!).

"I'm turning the heel; I'm turning the heel!"

my Lorna's Laces "Argyle" socks

I'm thinking these socks will definitely have to be for me. Look at how I messed up the heels.

see?

The first heel was done over about 60% of the stitches, instead of 50%. I left it because I was too lazy to go back. I did the second heel correctly (why didn't I just repeat my mistake to make them match?!) but then managed to do the toe over a different number of stitches from the first sock. Whaaaa? So they're wonky and crazy all over now.

I still kinda love 'em though. I can't help it. They crack me up.

Over a week without any sock knitting?! Say it ain't so. Don't worry, it ain't. While I was flipping through the Vogue Knitting on the Go: Socks book to find the Zig Zag sock pattern, I saw the cutest little tennis socks and could not resist. Really, who could resist that green pompom? As I was working in the store that day, I had plenty of time to find the perfect yarn: Rowan's new Cashsoft 4ply.

My choice was made easier by the fact that I've been looking for an excuse to try out this yarn. I have the first two of the Rowan Classic books and I love the patterns. If I enjoy making these socks, I think there will definitely be more of this yarn in my future. But first, there will have to be more short-rows. Because there's no way I'm doing a bulky heel flap for summer socks. Nope, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' dream short row heels and toes will be just right. And, oh so cute!

And I don't even like my ankles.

Big footie, little footie. S wanted to be in this picture too!

I love it. Even before the pompom.

Just in time for Memorial Day and the unofficial beginning of summer here in the US, pompom ankle socks!

They are so cute, I can hardly stand it. I will have to make more of these. Many. Many. Many. More. You can see that they aren't true ankle socks. As I was knitting, I was a little worried about them being too short and slipping into my shoes, so I first worked 10 rows and then started the heel. I think next time (I've already got some Koigu for the next pair!), I'll only do 4 or 5 rows, so they're just above the shoe.

I wore my new pompom socks to work this weekend and they were super comfy. The Cashsoft 4ply (on US3's) is a pretty good weight for socks, feels wonderful on, and held up quite well to its first wearing. Here's how the toes and the heels looked after the day. And just in case you're not convinced, here's Knitter's Review's recent article on Cashsoft. I'm sold!

Let the summer of ankle socks begin.

After finishing my cashsoft pom-pom socks, I wanted to start another pair right away. I hunted through my stash to see if I had any leftover yarn that might be suitable for summer socks and I thought I'd found it: Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino left over from the daisy cardigan I made last year.

But me no likey. The baby cash is doing that weird thing where the stitches make straight lines instead of perfect v's like you like to see in stockinette stitch. I've heard that knitting the ball from the other direction can counteract this effect, so I may try unravelling this anklet and starting again that way.

Of course that would have to be after I finish the Koigu anklets I already started.

And hey, don't you love my bright pink needles?? They're called Comfort Zone needles and they're really neat. I just love the color - perfect for my summer sock knitting. Plus, they're super bendy. Like I needed another reason to love sock knitting!

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Hey Sockapal-2-zers, I've sent out an intial email to everyone to welcome you, ask a question or two, and most importantly, to test the system that my head tech guy (aka hubby) has set up. So check your inboxes and over-zealous spam filters to be sure you've received it. And email me of course if you signed up and did not receive any email. I should have sock pal matches for you next week!

Summer weather has finally arrived in Boston. That means I'm at the playground for hours every day. And I get to wear all my tanks again!

I'm not getting much knitting done at the park though since the boys need to be changed constantly from their water clothes for playing in the fountain to their dry clothes for playing on the playground. And back again once they get hot and need to cool off in the water again. And then I have to make the water balloons. Oh and then there's the swinging and the rolling down the hill. Can you believe that I'm actually sore after our first few full days at the park!

But at night, with our air conditioner re-installed in the window, I can knit away on all my projects, even the wool ones! Clapotis, Katy, and my Koigu anklets have filled the warm nights so far.

And I've nearly finished the first koigu anklet. Once I'm done with this pair and can check my numbers, I'll be able to post my little anklet/pom-pom sock pattern for you all. I'll get to it one of these nights!

(Since you didn't get a proper post yesterday.)

My short-row ankle sock pattern is finally up! (There's even a tutorial on short-rowing the PG-R way.) Well, that must mean that I finished those Koigu anklets.

I also went back to my Cashsoft anklets and shortened them a bit. I'd made them a smidge too long and they stretched out another smidge with wear. I decided that two smidges too big was too much. So I opened those toes back up and reknit the toe an inch earlier. If you're planning on using the Cashsoft, you might think about making your socks a little snugger than you usually do.

Some more great links for footie socks:

- the original heel-flap tennis socks are in Vogue Knitting on the Go: Socks

- Spun Mag's summer socks also with heel-flap heels (Thanks Helene for the link!) Look fellow sockapaloozer Jackie made some of these!

- Pom Squad: a toe-up, short-row ankle sock pattern from Magknits

Happy ankle sock knitting everyone! As you can see by the short-row pictures, I'm already enjoying making another pair. I'm using some cotton Sockotta that Deb sent me. Thanks, Deb!

I simply cannot resist summer sock yarn! I took the boys downtown last week to play in the park and ride the Swan Boats and stopped in at Windsor Button. And they had fun Fixation sock yarn! (Not to mention all sorts of other things that I haven't seen elsewhere. Oh, Windsor Button, why must you tempt me so?)

Then I got to work on Saturday at A Good Yarn and there's new colorways of Art Yarns Supermerino. How am I supposed to leave the store without taking a few hanks of this with me?? Seriously.

The stuff is like candy! And I've got a real sweetooth. I guess I know what I'll be doing over the long weekend!

I am completely mad for ankle socks! Here's my latest pair, started at the playground, continued on the subway in NYC, then at the emergency room and finally finished while resting my foot on the sofa.

It's my own ankle sock pattern again. With the Fixation yarn though, I used US5's and cast on 48 stitches. And the best part: it took only one ball! After finishing the socks, I had this much left.

This was my first time using Fixation. It's really neat - so soft and stretchy. I ended up keeping the tension pretty tight, stretching the yarn a bit while knitting, so that the socks stay nice and snug. Cause who wants saggy ankle socks? Now I can't wait to start the next pair with the white Fixation that I picked up in NYC. I got two balls, since I wasn't sure how much yarn one pair of anklets would take, so that means that I should get two pairs out of the yarn!

You can never have too many pairs of ankle socks, right? (Please say right, otherwise, I'm gonna need an intervention or something.)

Notes from the trip:

1. A McDonald's Playspace in an airport is a good thing.

2. The extra security check at Frankfurt airport for those travelling to America is so disorganized, I can't believe that it's run by Germans.

3. Apparently rows 34 and 35 are some sort of Bermuda triangle for in-flight entertainment on Lufthansa planes. We had no sound on the flight over and had to wait 40 minutes for the sound to be reset on the flight back.

4. Watching Fever Pitch without sound is still better than watching Herbie Fully Loaded with sound.

5. The American Lufthansa kids meals are waaaaay better than the German Lufthansa kids meals.

6. Arriving late is awesome. No congestion at immigration. No wait for a taxi. Within one hour of landing, we were on our front doorstep. And an hour after that I was asleep.

I've been unpacking and cleaning non-stop since we woke up at the crack of dawn the next morning. And going to bed at 10pm. 10pm! That's just ridiculous. I mean that's my prime knitting time that I'm just sleeping away! If I ever manage to stay up later than the boys, I plan to work on my own version of these super-cool slippers that I found at the department store on our last day in Germany.

I got a pair for myself to use as a model and they are so crappily made that they barely fit. I can't wait to make a decent pair. What a clever idea for a fun little sock/slipper!

I must have slipper socks on the brain, because I also picked up this cute little book from Regia with all sorts of funky little sock patterns including instructions for making real slipper socks. Thank goodness, because, I had absolutely no idea how to use the slipper soles that I bought at Fadeninsel in Berlin!

Well, I'm off to do some laundry and then go to sleep. To dream of socks.